Sacha Baron Cohen Biography

Sacha Baron Cohen is a British actor and comedian, known for portraying four unorthodox fictional characters. This biography profiles his childhood, life, career, achievements and timeline.

Quick Facts

Also Listed In

Actors, Comedians, Writers

Also Known As

Sacha Noam Baron Cohen

Famous as

Actor

Nationality

British Famous British Men

Birth Date

13th October, 1971 AD

Age

45 Years

Sun Sign

Libra Libra Men

Height

1.91 m

Born in

Hammersmith

father

Gerald Baron Cohen

mother

Daniella Weiser

siblings

Erran Baron Cohen, Amnon Baron Cohen

Spouse/Partner

Isla Fisher

children

Olive Baron Cohen, Elula Lottie Miriam Cohen

religion

Judaism

Personality Type

ENTP

Net worth

$110 million

More Facts

education

Christ's College, Cambridge, Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School, University of Cambridge

awards

2007 - MTV Movie Award for Best Kiss - Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby
2007 - MTV Movie Award for Best Comedic Performance - Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
2007 - Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy - Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan

2012 - The British Comedy Academy Outstanding Achievement Award
2001 - British Academy Television Award for Comedy and Comedy Entertainment Programme - Da Ali G Show
2001 - British Academy Television Award for Best Comedy Performance - Da Ali G Show
2012 - Satellite Special Achievement Award for Outstanding Motion Picture Ensemble - Les Misérables
2006 - Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor - Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
2006 - Toronto Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor - Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
2006 - Los Angeles Films Critics Association Award for Best Actor - Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
2006 - Ronnie Barker Award - Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
2009 - Evening Standard British Film - Peter Sellers Award for Comedy - Brüno
2000 - NME Award for Total Genius of the Year
2006 - The Writers' Guild of Great Britain Award - Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
1999 - British Comedy Award for the Best Male Comedy Breakthrough Artist - The 11 O'Clock Show
2006 - German Comedy Award for Best International Comedian - Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
2006 - San Francisco Films Critics Circle Award for Best Actor - Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
2006 - San Francisco Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor - Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make

Pictures Of Sacha Baron Cohen

Credit By Joella Marano (Sacha Baron Cohen) [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Sacha Baron Cohen is an English actor, writer and comedian, who rose to fame for his portrayal of four fictional characters, especially the illiterate and dimwitted television interviewer, Ali G. With an interest in performing arts since childhood, he joined his college dramatic club and acted in stage plays. After passing out, he took up brief assignments as a fashion model. Since acting was his first love, he auditioned for the role of a television reporter for Channel 4 and was selected instantly. He went on to portray the role of Ali G, a comic budding rapper, on the British television show ‘The 11 O’Clock Show’, interviewing politicians, writers and other eminent personalities, with all sorts of off-the-wall questions. The character made him famous overnight. Soon after, he created more fictional characters - Borat, Bruno, and Admiral General Aladeen - all of them connecting with the audience instantaneously. Besides television, he also ventured into film acting, featuring in some of the biggest box-office hits, such as ‘Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan’, ‘Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby’, ‘Bruno’, ‘Hugo’, ‘The Dictator’, and ‘Madagascar’ series. He has been honored with a number of awards for his television shows and movies

Childhood & Early Life

Sacha Noam Baron Cohen was born on October 13, 1971, in Hammersmith, West London, as the youngest of three sons, to a Welsh clothing store owner, Gerald Baron Cohen, and Israeli movement instructor, Daniella Naomi Weiser.
He attended an independent school, The Haberdashers’ Aske’s Boys School, in Elstree, Hertfordshire, and later went to Christ’s College, University of Cambridge, to study history.
With immense interest in performing arts from a young age, he joined the Cambridge University Amateur Dramatic Club and participated in various plays, such as ‘Fiddler on the Roof’ and ‘Cyrano de Bergerac’.

Career

He took up modeling for various fashion magazines for a short time after graduating. Thereafter which he hosted a weekly programme on a satellite TV station during the early 1990s.
He auditioned for the profile of a presenter on Channel 4 by sending his tape as an Albanian television reporter in 1995. He was selected and worked on various ‘youth TV’ projects.
He started hosting ‘F2F’, a youth chat programme aired on Granada Talk TV, in 1996, besides appearing in a McCain Microchips advertisement.
In 1998, he appeared on the late night comedy show ‘The 11 O’Clock Show, broadcast on Channel 4, as the white uneducated, boorish aspiring rapper ‘Ali G’, which brought him into limelight.
As a hip-hop journalist, donning a colorful tracksuit, tinted sunglasses and designer skullcap, he interviewed politicians and celebrities with his weird questions.
He hosted the 2001 MTV Europe Music Awards, held in Frankfurt, Germany, as Ali G, and later repeated the feat as Borat in 2005 in Lisbon, Portugal.
His character as Ali G grew so popular that he featured in the 2002 comedy flick ‘Ali G Indahouse’, which marked his acting debut.
After his character ‘Ali G’ became a cult hit across Britain, he wheeled out another iconic character, Borat Sagdiyev, an oversexed intolerant Kazakh journalist.
In 2003, his characters Ali G and Borat crossed the Atlantic to appear on American channel HBO, and both the show and characters became a huge hit.
He lent his voice to the DreamWorks Animation’s film ‘Madagascar’ in 2005, followed by its two sequels – ‘Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa’ (2008) and ‘Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted’ (2012).
As Borat, he released a travel guide bearing two titles – ‘Borat: Touristic Guidings to Minor Nation of U.S. and A.’ and ‘Borat: Touristic Guidings to Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan’, in 2007.
He put aside his characters, Ali G and Borat, to bring his other character Bruno, an Austrian gay fashion correspondent, into spotlight. He also appeared as himself in the 2009 film ‘Bruno’, released by Universal Pictures.
He made headlines in 2009 when he appeared at the MTV Movie Awards as Bruno, dressed as a white angel, and landed in rapper Eminem’s lap while descending from the ceiling. Later, it was revealed that the gag was planned.
While working in his next film ‘The Dictator’ (2012), he created a new comedic character, Admiral General Aladeen, from a fictitious North African nation.
His major films include ‘Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby’ (2006), ‘Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street’ (2007), ‘Hugo’ (2011), ‘Les Miserables’ (2012), and ‘Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues’ (2013).
He has appeared out of character in interviews in a couple talk shows, such as ‘Late Show with David Letterman’, ‘Fresh Air’, ‘The Opie and Anthony Show’, and ‘The Howard Stern Show’.

Major Works

His stint as Ali G on his 2000 show ‘Da Ali G Show’ got him recognition across Britain, and won him several accolades in the form of awards. Eventually, he featured in Madonna’s 2000 video for her single ‘Music’ as a limousine driver.
He starred in the 2006 blockbuster mocumentary film ‘Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan’, playing the lead role of Borat, which won him several awards and nominations.

Awards & Achievements

In 1999, he was awarded the ‘Comedian of the Year’ by GQ and received the Best Newcomer award at the British Comedy Awards, for ‘The 11 O’Clock Show’.
He won the TV Quick Award for ‘TV Personality of the Year’ for his show ‘Da Ali G Show’, in 2000.
In 2001, he bagged two British Academy Television Awards (BAFTA) – Best Comedy (Programme or Series) and Best Comedy Performance for ‘Da Ali G Show’.
He received the Ronnie Barker Award and Deutscher Comedypreis (German comedy award) for Best International Comedy, in 2006.
He bagged the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award, San Francisco Film Critics Circle Award, and Toronto Film Critics Association Award in the ‘Best Actor’ category, in 2006.
In 2007, he was honored with the Golden Globe award in the ‘Best Actor – Musical/Comedy’ category.
He won the Best Comedic Performance award at the MTV Movie Awards and Peter Sellers Award for Best Comedy at the Evening Standard British Film Awards, in 2007.
He was listed in the ‘100 most influential people’ list of TIME magazine in 2007.
He received the Outstanding Achievement Award from Sir Ben Kingsley at the 2012 British Comedy Awards.
In 2013, he won the Charlie Chaplin Britannia Award for Excellence in Comedy at the BAFTA.

Personal Life & Legacy

He met English-Australian actress, Isla Fisher, in 2002 and got engaged to her in 2004. The couple welcomed their first baby, daughter Olive in 2007, after which Fisher converted to Judaism.
The couple married in a traditional Jewish ceremony in 2010 in Paris, France. They later had two more kids – daughter Elula Lottie Miriam (2010), and son Montgomery Moses Brian (2015).

Net Worth